Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Context

Genesis B (formerly known as the Later Genesis) is
found in the 'Junius manuscript' of Old English poetry (Oxford,
Bodleian Library, Junius 11) embedded in a much longer poem that we
call Genesis A. Genesis as a whole tells, in a
paraphrase that follows the Bible closely, the story of humankind
from creation onwards and Genesis B is slotted in (as lines
235–851) at the point where Adam and Eve fall into sin in the
Garden of Eden. But its expansive style is very different from that
of the main poem and its integrity as a work in its own right, with
a separate origin, is clear. Something of that origin is known, for
the Old English poem is a translation of a version in Old Saxon,
the language, closely r…